Pic above is what I imagine as Adrian :)
This chap is dedicated to the one that has been super supportive since... FOREVER??
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH and I hope we can continue being such good friends!
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'Wait, so you're telling me that everyone in your family has the name of a perfume brand?' Adrian asked incredulously.
I nodded slowly, giving him the 'duh' look.
'It's a strict rule in my family.'
Adrian started laughing at the ridiculity of it all, and I knew, after having the first hour of math with him, that this one laugh would continue on for a while.
The ones that started low and got higher would last about a minute. His high laughs on the other hand, would last around 10 seconds. I inwardly scold myself for being such a creep and taking note of these things.
We were now heading to the canteen for our break.
'Hey.' I stopped walking and raised my hands defensively.
'It's not my fault my parents have some weird fetish for smelling good' I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
Adrian shamelessly sniffed me. 'You do smell good.' He then chortled, laughing at himself.
'It's not that funny Adrian...' I moaned.
'Well I think it's really funny' he choked out, pretending to wipe tears from his eyes.
It really isn't even THAT funny. If anything, it's cute.
I rolled my eyes at him as he continued laughing.
So, I did what instinct told me.
I smacked him. Hard. On the arm. The laughter ceased as his mouth opened in astonishment at my violence.
Damn! His arm is hard. Seriously, did all the boys in this school work out together in a-
My thoughts were cut off when he suddenly pulled my hairband off, letting my hazel brown hair fly loose.
My eyes widened in shock. He did NOT just do that. Did he know how long it had taken me to TIE that thing??
I was a major perfectionist for most things, especially my hair. When I ran my fingers through my hair, I absolutely couldn't stand it when there was resistance. So when I tied my hair up, which involved redoing the band 10 times and pathetically brushing it with my fingers, I did not want to take the rubber band off again until I needed to.
'You! Give-it-back-' I sputtered, trying to reach his outstretched arm that tauntingly dangled my hairband.
Sadly, I was a little shorter than him, and he had the reflexes of a cobra.
I couldn't get it. After 20 seconds of me darting for his hand, and him expertly dodging my attacks, I gave up.
I crossed my arms, harrumphed and started stalking away from him, 'Classic Chloe' move.
'Hermosa' he sing-songed, catching up with me easily. He passed me back my hairband which I quickly put on my wrist, not asking what he had just called me out of spite.
'So what are the names of your family members?'
I sighed. I always got this when I met new people, but it had only happened for a short while in my previous school, since everybody knew everybody since Grade 1 and word of my arrival in Grade 4 had travelled fast.
'Come on Chloe.. Tell me! I want to know' Adrian weaned, giving me puppy eyes. Now all he had to do to hit my weak spot for cute things is pout.
Don't pout. Don't you DARE pout.
He pouted.
The combination of his puppy eyes and pouting lip was too much to take.
Goddammit.
If I was going to do this, I was going to do it fast. I took a deep breath and launched into it.
'My dad's name is Christian Dior, and when he met my mum, Gucci, they instantly fell in love. Yesyesyes, laugh all your might. After all that hubba hubba, out popped me, then my sis Chanel, then Dolce Gabbana, then Marc Jacobs. No, I do not have a middle name; Yes, my surname is still Dior and yes Dolce is a girl.' The words uncontrollably raced out of my mouth.
Adrian's facial expression was priceless. It was a peculiar mix between confused, amused, and shocked. He took a while to respond.
'Who in the world says hubba hubba?' he asked curiously, grinning at me.
'Evidently, knucklehead, I do. Now let's go eat, shall we?' He yelped as I pulled him gruffly by the arm towards the cafeteria.
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Break was over quickly. We had wasted so much time bickering that we ended up not having enough time to actually sit down and eat our snacks.
Instead, we ran to our next class, while messily trying to choke down the puffs that we had bought.
It was now music class, something that I Thank God, also had in common with Adrian. I wiped the puff crumbs off my shirt just as the teacher started calling out names. The teacher, Mrs something I forgot, was splitting the class into groups of 4.
Adrian and I immediately looked at each other. My mouth twitched in anticipation.
Leo was in this class too.
Upon my late entrance with Adrian, he had loudly whistled to get my attention, which I had pointedly ignored. 'CC' move.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him looking me with a concentration that I envied.
My friends swear that I have ADHD, or something. I have the attention span of a squirrel, which then leads to my habit of peeing every hour. It's as if I always have nothing to do with my hands, so I end up constantly reaching for my bottle to take a swig.
I had gone to pee right after math.
'Chloe, Beatrice, Young, and Adrian. You four are group number 5. Make your way to Practice Room 4.'
Did she just say that Adrian was young? He didn't even look particularly young to me.
I stood up, brushing the remaining crumbs off my skirt, and looked at Adrian, who smiled wryly at me.
I followed Adrian, then plodded inside the practice room, followed by two other students. The room was extremely small, and contained two tables with a beat-up keyboard on each of them. Music posters were pasted all over the walls, and a lone chair was placed in the middle of the minimal space.
The other girl, Beatrice, quickly switched on the AC, and sat down on the chair without touching the musical instruments at all.
I ignored the annoyance that panged in me and skipped up to the keyboard at the right of the room and leaned against the wall there. Across from me was Adrian and another boy with thick rimmed rectangular glasses. I roughly recognised him as one of the boys that had gotten off the hippie bus.
Adrian tried to introduce us to each other. He gestured to me and then back to the boy.
'Chloe, this is uhhh... What's your name again dude?'
I raised my eyebrow to this. These boys had two weeks to get to know each other. How could Adrian not know his name?
'Young', the boy murmured. He looked directly at me, raising his hand to waist level.
I wasn't able to catch his name but I shook his hand anyway.
'Hi, my name's Chloe' I said, giving him a small smile. I quickly let go of his hand.
This guy had a strange feel to him. He wasn't welcoming but didn't exactly scream GET AWAY FROM ME. He was cute though - I had to admit. His hair was tousled and his eyes were large and chocolate brown, which complemented the rest of his lank build. He was about the same height as me, so I did not have to look up to him.
'Yeah, just like the perfume' quipped Adrian, snickering softly. He looked to Beatrice and the other guy, trying to get them to laugh at his poorly-aimed joke.
When they stared blankly back at him, he awkwardly stopped his snicker, and started to swing his arms about.
Beatrice gave me a tight-lipped frown, as if disapproving my choice in friends.
I shook my head at her, smiling, letting her know that Adrian was not as bad as he seemed.
'Okay peeps. What are we supposed to do? Adrian and I came late and Mrs uhh.. She didn't bother explaining again.'
'She just wants us to break the ice by playing the instruments available in the rooms...' Beatrice said boredly.
I looked towards the two sad keyboards by my sides. They looked like they had been used by the entire school and never wiped.
'Well, you guys can go at it.' I smiled reassuringly, not particularly wanting to touch them.
Adrian and the other boy immediately went to the keyboards. I looked at them amusedly as they gleefully started playing tunes.
I walked over to Beatrice who was also staring at the boys with a similar expression.
'So do you learn any instruments?' I asked her. I was curious about what a girl like her would do during her free time.
Beatrice was the epitome of 'Silent but Judging'. She had pretty green eyes that contrasted with her pale face, and had long black hair which she pulled back in a very low ponytail. She looked slightly unfriendly but maybe that was just me judging.
'I played piano for a while when I was younger, but I can't remember much anymore, except maybe 'Green-sleeves'. I'm only here because I don't want to take art. What about you?' Beatrice replied softly.
She smiled as I started to speak. Wow that was a nice smile.
You should smile more, I wanted to say. I choked it down before it came out.
'Cool. I love music! I play the piano, guitar and the viola but I want to learn the harp, the drums, and the ukulele' I told her. Music was one of my many passions. I also loved to read.
I particularly loved learning new songs. Whether be it for my parents, or for myself, I liked what I did, but performing in front of a large crowd was a different story. I shuddered at the thought of the disastrous performance in my previous school.
Beatrice's eyes widened in awe. 'Wow. That's a lot of music ambition.'
'Thanks' I gave her a toothy grin.
Just then, the music teacher opened the door.
'Hi Chloe, I just wanted to speak to you about some music ECAs. What instruments do you play?'
I quickly walked over to the door area and answered, 'I play the piano, guitar, and viola-', I broke off as she pumped her fists into the air.
Her voice when she spoke was laced with excitement, 'YES I've found a violist! Chloe, you should really join Orchestra. We've never had a Viola player. You could be our first. We have a practice after school two days from now. You should come watch us', her eyes gleamed.
My eyes widened at her outburst, but I regained my composure fast enough. 'That'd be great! Maybe this time-
The door banged to a close, and I stared at the teacher skipping happily back to her office through the glass pane in the door.
i could play the piano...' I trailed off.
A wonderful melody stopped me from boarding the cursing train.
Adrian's fingers were lightly hitting the piano keys, as he stared at his hands.
That melody was so familiar... I walked over, asking 'What song is that?'.
'Its-' he rambled on about Chopin, and that's when I realised that this guy had passion. Great passion. I nodded sweetly, when another melody captured my attention.
I walked over to the other boy, who was also playing a tune that was vaguely familiar. I stared at his fingers and flashed him a genuine smile when he looked up. Adrian then started to play another beautiful tune.
In a way, I was torn between the two.
In the end, I listened to them both, and talked to them softly about their favourite composers. They both asked me to play, but I told them that I was more of a sight-reader, and couldn't remember any songs from heart.
They were amazed, but I reassured them that it sucked. Being a sight-reader just added on to my fish-like memory, which made me look even closer to a 'Dory' double.
After music, I had a boring English class with Beatrice. Finally it was lunch time, and we walked together on the third level. As we walked past a glass room, I noticed that there were many people inside, finding their seats. At the front of the room, a microphone and some stands were being prepared.
'Hey is there a performance going on or something?' I asked Beatrice, who I could comfortably call 'Beat' now.
'Yeah, it's something that happens monthly apparently. But I'm not much of a music person, so I'm going to the library.'
As I watched her retreating figure walk to the library next to the glass room, I shrugged.
I confidently entered the glass room, ignoring all the stares, and sat myself down on the out-most seat in an empty row of chairs.
As the performance started, and the students played an indie pop piece, I felt at peace. Listening to this music with a whole crowd of people was so therapeutic.
I hope I can perform live to a crowd soon and bring this sort of feeling to the audience.
I noticed the pianist of the group was the boy from music class. He smiled confidently throughout the two songs they performed, and even met my eyes.
After his group finished and they took a bow, he walked over to me, and plopped down on the seat next to me.
'Great performance' I whispered.
'Thanks.' He whispered back.
I smirked, then gave him a side-long glance. His hair was poking his glasses lens.
'Adrian was looking for you in my class just now. He said something about you meeting the rest of the group', he informed me.
'Oh? I'll see him tomorrow anyways'
Suddenly realising I still didn't know his name, I outright asked,' what's your name again?'
He grinned. 'I told you already.'
'Huh, when?'
'Music class. Remember?'
Ooooh...
'I don't remember. What is it again?' I smiled sheepishly and nudged his arm.
He shook his head, laughing under his breath, and grinned playfully.
'My name's Young', he breathed out after a moment's hesitation.
My eyebrows knit in confusion.
'How young?' I asked curiously.
'No, my name is Young' he corrected.
I crossed my arms.
'Yeah, well I would say that mine is young as well, but I think it originated from the late 18 hundreds-'
'Y-O-U-N-G' he spelled out, 'That's my name' he huffed.
Ooh I see.
'Your name is That's?'
Young groaned and threw his arms up in frustration.
'I'm kidding, I'm kidding' I laughed out, touching his shoulder.
He shook his head amusedly when I stopped laughing.
'Wait.' I said, puckering my mouth up in confusion.
'What kind of name is 'Young'?'
Another groan.
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